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Scott Jones
James Beard Award winner
- Discipline
- Other
i. Biography
Coming Up
Training at the University of Mississippi and the Culinary Institute of America gave Scott Jones a two-track fluency that still defines the work: editorial judgment on one side, culinary precision on the other. That combination suits a trade where food has to read clearly on the page while holding up in practice. Across the page, the plate, and the bottle, Jones has worked with a practiced eye and a steady palate, treating food as culture, context, and utility rather than decoration. From 1999–2010, Scott Jones served as executive food editor at Southern Living and as a member, Lifestyle Division magazine prototyping and development team at Time, Inc. The post sat at the center of how food coverage gets shaped for a broad audience, where tone, structure, and authority have to line up. In that span, Jones worked across editorial and development functions, moving between curation, evaluation, and translation—jobs that require both taste and systems thinking. Today, Scott is president / owner of JONES IS THIRSTY, head of content of eMeals.com, wine specialist of Costco Warehouse, and judge for the James Beard Foundation Awards of James Beard Foundation. The titles map a broad working range: brand-building through JONES IS THIRSTY, digital food content through eMeals.com, wine expertise at Costco Warehouse, and peer-level judgment through the James Beard Foundation Awards of James Beard Foundation. Taken together, they show a career that moves between editorial, retail, and institutional authority without losing contact with the practical side of taste.
Where They Are Now
Shepard’s deviled eggs with lobster oil, finished with fried garlic, shallots and chives, has become one of Scott’s clearest expressions of flavor balance and menu appeal. The dish works by layering familiar elements with sharper detail: richness, aroma, crunch, sweetness, and freshness all held in one bite. That kind of construction—recognizable, but built with intent—is the throughline.
Signature
Scott's signature dishes include Southern Living Wine Guide and Journal and 1001 Ways to Cook Southern. The pair shows the range of his signature work: one title anchored in wine guidance and close reading, the other in Southern cooking and quantity of approach. Southern Living Wine Guide and Journal points to pairing, structure, and the discipline of describing flavor; 1001 Ways to Cook Southern points to breadth, adaptability, and the ongoing utility of regional cooking. Jones’s mark is the ability to make that material legible without flattening it.
Honors
Scott's honors include James Beard Foundation scholarship award and International Association of Culinary Professionals scholarship award. Both awards place his work in a professional field that values discipline, contribution, and editorial competence as much as visibility. For Jones, recognition comes through the standard measures of the trade: usefulness, consistency, and the ability to shape how others read food and wine.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Scott
Where did Scott Jones train or study?
Scott Jones trained at University of Mississippi and Culinary Institute of America.
What recognition has Scott Jones received?
James Beard Foundation scholarship award.
